Return to Me
by ariadne2
Summary: OK someone returns to sunnydale to and try to wreck havoc while they are there. Buffy and Spike get together despite all odds...maybe.
1. The Party

Return to Me ****

Title; Return to Me

Author; Ariadne

Rating; could change without notice

Disclaimer; All the Characters belong to Joss, and the talented ppl at Mutant Enemy, and Scream appears thanks to Wes Craven… etc, etc I own no-one (unfortunately)

Feedback; Yes please, but please be gentle it is my first time (hahaha)

Distribution; Yep but please let me know so I can gloat about it!

****

Chapter 1

"Why don't you get it?" The girl asked as she ducked swiftly away from a short jab "don't come to Sunnydale around my damn Birthday!"

"Look slayer you can't tell me wha!" The vampire tried to say before Buffy accurately drove the stake through his heart.

"..What to do? No! But I can keep you out of my town." said Buffy as she dusted her clothes off

"Not very welcoming are you? You never know, he could've been a real asset to Sunnydale"

Buffy rolled her eyes the look on her face said it all "Why me, why on my birthday?" turning and looking at the newcomer "Look Spike not now, I don't feel like talking to anyone at the moment"

"Look Buffy, Li'l bit and Red went to a lot of trouble tonight to get The Bronze for you, the least you could do is show a bit of respect to them, especially since Red and Tara are going to a lot of trouble to try to find that new group of witches for you"

Buffy sighed as she tried to explain to Spike that she had to try and find the witches tonight. Cordelia had been very clear on the phone when she was warning them all that there was something important about tonight. Of course tonight was important, after all, if anything really bad was going to happen ten to one it would be her birthday, always was. " Alright let's go then" she eventually gave in, after all, the sexy blonde was hard to resist not that she ever let him know.

"Hey Willow! Nice outfit, but I thought you would be inside already" Anya laughed as she ran through the back door of the bronze. We see Willow, her hair has been tousled and she looks a bit shaken and confused, her clothes dark skin fitting leather and burgundy velvet. 

"Who was that?" asked her companion asked as he stepped out of the shadows.

"You tell me?" she replied " Come on lets go down to the school and see if we can find some entertainment" her grin was pure evil.

Inside the Bronze Xander, Dawn and Tara were pinning up the last of the decorations as Anya burst in 

"She's heading this way I saw her with Spike! Oh and Willow is standing by the backdoor, why is this? Shouldn't she be in here so we can surprise Buffy when she walks in?"

"But I'm just here Anya." Came the confused reply from one of the tables loaded with food, "I was just in the office talking to Angel, He is on his way with Cordy, Gunn and Wesley. I haven't been out the back for an hour or so." We then notice that Willow is dressed in a long cream skirt with a light green lace top.

"But I just saw you by the backdoor? How did you get in here so fast? And how did you get changed so quick?" Anya looked very confused

Willow suddenly looked worried " what do you mean changed, I have bee wearing this since 7.30? What was I wearing when you thought you saw me? How's your head Anya? Are you still suffering migraines? Maybe you saw someone who looked a little bit like me?"

"No it was you! And you were just standing there! And you had a nice leather outfit on and you didn't even say hi! I just thought you didn't want to talk to me! Now that I think about it you were a bit rude not saying hello!"

"Now honey, don't go getting upset about it but Will has been in here most of the night getting things ready. Let's go out and see if the other person is still out there? She could be someone from out of town just lost. I mean there isn't anyone I know in town who looks like Willow" Xander started to explain

"And Willow doesn't wear leather, Anya. You know that" Dawn added

"No! The only time I have seen Willow in Leather was when… was when, uh oh the last time I saw Willow in leather was when evil Willow was in town!" Xander started to sound worried as he looked at everyone in the room.

Back on the street Spike and Buffy were close to the Bronze when a big black convertible slowed beside them

"Buffy! Want a ride?" asked the driver

"Angel!" squealed Buffy excitedly "What are you doing here?"

She ran round the car to give him a hug. Spike shuffled from foot to foot 'Bloody sodding poof,' thought Spike 'She never gets that excited about seeing me, dunno why, who's the one that helps her find vamp nests? Is it peaches? No it's me! Who's the one who that turns into big bad when he gets horizontal with her? Not me that's for sure! He gets hippy with her and then tries to kill fer for the next year, or however long it takes Red to re-curse him. Oh yeah, that's sodding love, not bloody likely!'

"Are you coming Spike?" Angel's question brought him back to reality.

"Looks a bit squashy for me thanks peaches, think I'll keep walking it's just around the sodding corner not like it's bloody far!"

"OK fine, see you there" Angel replied as he roared off

"Stupid, sodding poof!" Spike kicked a stone on the sidewalk. Sunnydale had been unusually quiet lately, since the demise of Glory, since she never found the key she just disappeared, apparently it was only every 500 years that the key could be used to open the portal to Glory's dimension. They had known when she needed the key by and had managed to keep Dawn safe long enough. Buffy and Spike had seen Glory go, she just seemed to disintegrate, later they had found Ben's body nearby, and the police had investigated his death and ruled out suspicious circumstances (if only they knew). The coroner had said Ben had suffered a massive heart attack, apparently he had a heart condition. The powers that be had picked a good jail for the exiled god. 

He could hear the music coming from the bronze now. All of a sudden, Spike felt another presence nearby, all the hair on the back of his neck was prickling up. Someone was watching him. Not more bloody trouble he thought 'Buffy deserves at least one good birthday, and a 21st is meant to be special, at least it was these days.'

Spike turned around, his keen vampire sight easily making out objects in the darkness, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. " Must have been imagining it." He said to himself "might as well go in and see what's happening."

Inside the music was blaring, Nibblet was in charge of the gifts and the food, Xander was checking the drinks, Willow and Tara were dancing so was Cordelia and Gunn, Giles and Wesley were sitting in a corner talking. Anya was keeping a close eye on Xander, she looked worried, 'Some bint must have tried cracking onto Xander' he thought. There was no sign of Buffy anywhere. He saw a few familiar faces in the crowd, Oz was there organising music, he had come back to Sunnydale especially for Buffy's party, he kept looking at Willow with a miserable expression on his face "Poor sod, I know how he feels" Spike mumbled. Dawn had managed to track down some of Buffy's friends from before they had moved to Sunnydale, most of them reminded him of Cordelia and Harmony, beautiful but shallow. He even recognised some of them but wasn't sure where he had seen them before.

"Spike! Have you seen Buffy? She was here a moment ago."

"Sorry Nibblet, I haven't seen her since I got here. But can you give her this for me?" Spike answered as he handed Dawn a small gift-wrapped package.

"Oh! What is it Spike?" asked Dawn as she curiously turned the gift over gently shaking it while holding it up to her ear.

"Just a little something for her." Spike said thinking how it was funny how things change, 5 years ago if anyone had told him he would fallen love with a slayer he would have laughed so hard he couldn't stand up, then kill them. Now, well it was different, now he had saved money he had been able to get off demons and such so he could get her a unique piece of jewellery. Not some bulk manufactured piece of costume jewellery either, A hand made one off design (he designed it himself) from an exclusive Jeweller in Australia. It had cost a small fortune and had seemed to have taken forever but he had finally got it. 'That should prove my love for her.' he thought.

She couldn't get it through her thick skull that he loved her, he would die for her if he had to, he proved that with Glory. Buffy had warmed to him a bit after that. He was now included in patrolling and had been invited into the house for dinner even. Just give her time she'll come round eventually.

"There she is" pointed Dawn "come on Spike, it is almost time for her to cut her cake and open her gifts. Let's go get her."

Buffy was standing near a corner talking to Angel and someone else who looked familiar. Buffy looked completely engrossed in the conversation, the other girl was pretty (in a way) a little taller than Buffy with almost flawless skin, dark hair and dark blue eyes. She looked very familiar but Spike couldn't think where he had seen her before.

"Spike! Come over here," Buffy called to him "this is an old friend of mine from LA. Spike meet Neve Carter, Neve this is my friend Spike."

"Pleased to meet you Spike" Neve said in a confident tone

"Yeah, you too" he mumbled in reply, still trying to place what was so familiar about her

"Neve's a famous actress now!" chirped Dawn "It was hard to track her down on such short notice, but with Glory and all"

"Oh, Shut up Dawn" Buffy said angrily to her sister " Neve doesn't want to hear all the gross details of the last year"

Suddenly Spike exclaimed "that's were I have seen you before, on the tele, you were in those thriller movies Scream or Shriek or something like that wasn't it!" Spike was beaming now he had finally worked out who she was

"Yes I was. Scream, It was a lot of fun making them too. I was surprised to get a letter from Dawnie though. I tried staying in touch after they moved here but it was hard, my Mom was worried that Buffy might have been a bad influence on me and I might go off the rails like Buffy did."

" I didn't go off the rails!"

"Did you know she burnt our school down? That was one of the reasons she moved here!"

" Burnt the school down! That's my girl, she's got a thing about schools she blew Sunnydale high up" Spike beamed with pride at the thought of the destruction. " I didn't get to see it happen though, saw the after effects and heard about it!"

"Umm, Buffy? Can I talk to you for a moment?" asked Dawn moving away from the others a bit, "Pike's here, he wants to see you, he is a bit worried about all the vamps here, and doesn't want to stay long."

"Vampires here? There's only Angel & Spike and they're both harmless! Where is he?"

Next Chapter coming soon.!


	2. The Gifts

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Pike looked around the room, something didn't feel right about this place to him and one of the people he had been talking to have seemed really odd. Almost like she was a robot or something, Anya or something her name had been he would ask Buffy about her. Dawn looked so different to when he had last seen them, but it had been 6 years since he had seen them. 'I wonder if Buffy has changed much,' he thought.

"Pike!! Is it really you" a beautiful blond girl rushed up to him and hugged him tightly "God, it's been like, years! How have you been? Dawn didn't tell me you were coming, what a great surprise! Anyway come and meet everyone and don't worry so much you look like you are about to be led off to be killed or something."

"Buffy! Wow look at you! Wait, whoa, hang on a second." Pike leaned back to look at her he couldn't believe how much she had changed since he had last seen her, for a start her hair was a lot longer now and so many other changes that he couldn't believe it. "You look fantastic, I nearly didn't recognise you. What have you been doing lately, are you… you know still the..?"

"The slayer?" Buffy finished for him "Yes, I'm still the slayer but there's not just vampires now there are demons of all types, and you know, not all vamps are bad."

"You have to be kidding me." Pike looked at her with a worried expression " Now that I know that they exist I can almost feel that they are around, really spooks me. Anyway enough about that, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!. I can't stay long I just wanted to see you again, you know maybe have a dance or two."

"Look, come and meet everybody first, then we will go from there"

"Buffy? Are there vampires here? This place seems creepy."

"Never mind about that, you are safe here. Come on they are just over here" Buffy was almost bursting with excitement 'this has turned out to be a great night,' she thought 'A lot of my old friends from LA are here, Angel and now Pike. Who else have Dawn and Willow tracked down I wonder?' her mind was racing trying to remember old faces as she dragged Pike over to meet Willow, Xander, Giles and the others, who were now altogether listening to one of Neve's stories.

"Hey guys, this is Pike. You remember Pike don't you Neve?"

"Yeah, how's it goin' Pike, long time since I've seen you. Are you still in LA?"

"No Neve, I live in New York now, got my own motorcycle repair business. I see you got the big breaks you were after, congrats I love Scream by the way."

"Stop hogging him Neve. I still have to introduce him to everyone." Buffy said angrily, brushing a wisp of hair away from her face.

"OK I was just going to get some more drinks anyway" Neve laughed as she moved away from the group towards the bar.

"OK Pike, this is Giles, Giles is my watcher, this is my best friend in the whole world, Willow Rosenburg, her girlfriend Tara," Buffy gestured around the group as she went from on to the other, "..Xander Harris, who has saved my life also, Xander's Girlfriend Anya.."

"We have already met." Pike said, "When I first got here she greeted me and told me where to find Dawn."

"Ok then, This is Cordelia, and Wesley, Angel, Gunn they are all from LA, Angel runs a private investigation agency.."

"We help the helpless." Said Wesley, thrusting his hand forward to shake Pike's.

"And actually we all run the agency but Angel started it" added Cordelia with a smile at Pike, her eyes giving him the once over.

"..And this is Spike, he helps me with … you know my work" said Buffy with a wink at Spike "Everyone this is Pike he helped me through the shock of finding out about my birthright, and he helped me defeat Lothos." Buffy was grinning happily

"Defeat Lothos?" asked Spike "You never told me you went up against him."

"You never asked" replied Buffy not taking any notice of how edgy Pike was getting around the two vampires. "Anyway Pike has been around since I found out life was going to be different from, graduating high school, going shopping in Europe, getting married to Christian Slater, and dying!"

"Is that what your aspirations were" asked Willow looking shocked

"Christian Slater!? Why him?" asked Angel and Spike both together, looking even more shocked than Willow.

The music quietened then and Dawn climbed up on the stage to the mic, she looked as if she had an announcement to make.

"Everyone!" Dawns voice came over the sound system really clearly "As you know we are all gathered here tonight to celebrate my big sister's birthday, and well I just wanted to say… Buffy I hope you are having a blast and it's time to cut your cake 'cause I'm getting a bit hungry here and I want you to open all your stuff so I can have a look."

Everyone laughed and clapped. Someone started chanting "Cake, cake, cake, cake". Buffy smiled and made her way to the tables, Oz came over with the mic and asked her to say something.

"Well, Thanks for coming everyone. it has been so good seeing you all again, now lets eat some cake!"

Buffy started to cut the cake when a voice behind her said "Don't forget to make a wish luv." It was Spike he had moved over closer to her so he could watch her when she was opening her gifts. He didn't put a card with his gift she would work it out if she looked at it.

"Spike! Don't creep up on me like that you scared half the life out of me."

"He seems alright, that Pike fella, a hell of a lot nicer than Peaches, but he is a bit skittish around us. Did you tell him that Peaches and me… well that we are vampires? I shook his hand and started talking to him and he nearly shit himself. I mean bloody hell I thought he was going to die of fright right there. A bit of fun really but I felt guilty, being a old friend of yours an' all."

"No I didn't tell him that you and Angel were vampires I didn't want him to worry that's all he's been through a lot. Now will you let me cut this cake." Buffy paused for a second then asked "I'm sorry Spike, did you want a piece or are you just going to pretend to not like chocolate or something."

"I'd love a piece, thanks luv don't mind a bit of chockie now and then" the vampire replied giving Buffy a quick smile "and I never have to worry about gainin' any weight or anything like that.

"Look, Spike" Buffy was very edgy around the vampire suddenly "Just take your cake and go, please. I'm too busy to try to deal with you at the moment"

"All right then Slayer, but I must warn you, I am staying around here till I get a dance and a kiss from the birthday girl."

"GO AWAY SPIKE!" Buffy said sternly to the blond vampire. 'Oh man' she thought to herself ' I'm letting Spike get to me, he's way too attractive. Especially in that suit, where the hell did he get it anyway? I've never seen him wear it before. There should be a law against hot looking guys wearing good suits, a suit can make a ordinary guy look good but a hot guy… well, I don't want to, wait no! I WON'T think about Spike that way! If he wasn't so damn hot it would be good. I could be all _not notice the sexy guy_ type girl. Damn these horrible Spike noticing hormones. Why can't I notice how sexy Angel is, or Pike, or even Xander!' Buffy's thoughts were running away with her until Dawn came over and started talking to her.

"Will you please open your presents soon? I want to see what you got that I can borrow. I need some new jumpers and stuff you know."

"Dawn, I promise you that anything that doesn't fit me or I don't particularly want to wear, you can BORROW, not have, BORROW, b-o-r-r-o-w, got it? Good. I will open my presents in a minute anyway, not because you want me to, but because I want to. Here take this cake around." Buffy passed Dawn a platter with small pieces of cake on it to give to everyone. She heard Willow announce to everyone that Buffy would open her gifts now, so she moved over towards the table that they were on and composed herself for reading funny sentiments and well wishes and thanking people for coming.

As she started opening gifts she noticed Spike looking edgy and nervous not far from her. 'Good' she thought to herself. She was laughing and holding up some of her gifts for everyone to see. A wizard statue from Willow and Tara, it was holding a staff in one hand and a crystal in the other and looked as if he was looking into the wind. A gorgeous black velvet and satin cloak from Anya and Xander, A set of keys from Giles and Dawn (she found out later they were to a jeep like the one her mother used to drive before Buffy smashed it one night.) A $500 gift voucher from an exclusive LA boutique from Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn, A bottle of expensive perfume from Angel, a lot of clothes and shoes from her other friends and then she found a small gift wrapped box with no card or name attached to it. She curiously looked at it, wondering who it was from 'Oh well, I will find out later' she thought as she carefully removed the wrapping. Inside a burgundy velvet box held her gift slowly she opened the top, she had seen evil released this way so she was slightly worried about it. Inside the lid in gold writing was an unusual emblem and the words _Pook Australia, exclusive hand made jewellery._ 'Wow!' she thought 'someone went to a lot of trouble!' then she saw what the box actually contained.

Spike smiled when he saw Buffy's face as she opened his gift. 'She likes it!' he said quietly to himself.

To be continued very soon…I promise!!!


	3. The Pendant

Title; Return to Me

Title; Return to Me

Author; Ariadne

Rating; could change without notice

Disclaimer; All the Characters belong to Joss, and the talented ppl at Mutant Enemy, and Scream appears thanks to Wes

Craven… etc, etc I own no one (unfortunately) Oh and I forgot this with Chapter 2 but A HUGE thanx to Peter Cook of "Pook Australia" for letting me use his business in this fic.

Feedback; Yes please, but please be gentle it is my first time (hahaha)

Distribution; Yep but please let me know so I can gloat about it!

Chapter 3 The Pendant 

The school seemed different Willow thought, "There is more life in it or something I can't quite put my finger on it." She said to her companion "There's something wrong here, maybe we should have a look around a bit, keep your eyes open for white hats, they always seem to be here a lot."

It's Ok, you don't need to worry about white hats when I'm here, we can tie 'em up and have some fun with 'em!" came the reply

The couple walked around the school checking inside a couple of classrooms before they had enough "That's odd, I normally find someone hiding here somewhere. Oh well, come on Xander lets go, bored now, wanna go play with Puppy, make him bark!" she had a wicked smile on her face as she turned to look at Xander.

"Sure, this place is empty, no one to chase, no one to torture. The master isn't going to be happy about this."

They walk out looking around as they leave, they head for The Bronze.

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Buffy was looking at the most beautiful pendant she had ever seen. I rose gold heart-shaped pendant with what looked like a silver stake through it. It lay against the dark velvet of the case like a shining star.

"Wow, check it out, neat pendant, can I borrow it?" asked Dawn excitedly

"No!" came Buffy's reply instantly "I don't even know who gave it to me yet! It also looks expensive and you could lose it."

"Hmmm" Mumbled Anya, looking over Buffy's shoulder "a mix of rose and white gold, about 18 carat I think, set with cubic zirc… no, I think they are real! Real diamonds! Wow that would have to be at least five thousand dollars, maybe more!"

"How can you tell that by looking from there?" asked Dawn

"I can't but I am having a good guess, anyway you learn a lot when you are a vengeance demon for hundreds of years! Can I have a closer look?"

Buffy passed Anya the pendant

"Hmm, yes I was right 18 carat rose and white gold and yes they are real diamonds. Look at the detail, it's amazing you have to be a very good jeweller to make something like this. Every little detail is finished perfectly, look here where the stake goes into the heart, it has been made to look as if it was really pushed in." Anya was smiling proudly because everyone was listening carefully to her everyword.

"I would just like to know who gave it to me?" said Buffy sounding confused "I mean, it is obviously very expensive, so someone went to a lot of trouble. It is really beautiful, and I want to thank them. Whoever it is knows I'm the slayer otherwise it would have been an arrow through the heart or nothing at all, right?" she asked looking around the group.

"Well, I reckon it was Spike." Dawn looked directly at her sister as she supplied her opinion.

"Spike! What makes you think Spike gave it to me? I mean I know he has the hots for me an' all. But, how on earth would he be able to afford something like this?" Buffy sounded disbelieving.

"Oh! I dunno maybe the fact that the piece of the pendant that holds the chain is shaped like a railroad spike, and that he gave me a box, about that size, to give to you when he came in." Dawn replied smiling to herself.

"Oh!" Buffy sounded shocked "Well where is he?" she started looking around the room for the blond vampire. She looked back down at the pendant, 'it is really beautiful' she thought to herself the 2 diamonds on the stake glittering as the light flickered across them. At the top of the pendant between the curves of the heart she noticed the railroad spike that Dawn had pointed out. 'Anya was right,' Buffy thought ' the detail is amazing.'

"Here, let me put that on you." A soft voice almost purred behind her. 

She turned towards Spike, her eyes glittering with emotion, "Oh Spike, thank you, it's beautiful, I don't know what to say. You shouldn't have, it must of cost you a fortune."

"It's nothing pet. It is worth every cent to me if it makes you happy. And besides, I wanted to get you something special, I love you, you know that."

"Oh Spike, don't start that again" Buffy said getting all defensive "You know it could never work between us. I mean you're a vampire and I am the Slayer that's big problem before we even start."

"Don't go getting your knickers in a twist. I can't help the way I feel. I'm not expecting you to fall in my arms, just give me a chance. Look just enjoy tonight and we'll talk about it later, Ok?"

"Alright Spike." Buffy replied she felt differently about him now, more relaxed maybe, she didn't know. "So, do you want to dance?" she asked him as she moved towards the dance floor.

Spike was stunned, but not enough to let an opportunity to have Buffy in his arms pass by. "Ok then slayer." He replied quickly before she changed her mind. He smiled again, could this mean that she was finally coming to accept the fact that he loved her?

The music was just right as Buffy moved into his arms and they made their way around the dance floor to the romantic music that was being played. Spike thought to himself ' This is almost like a dream. I wonder what is going to come along and sod it all up now?' It was almost to perfect.

All of a sudden, almost as if he had summoned it, there was a crash in through the window.

"Oh Hell" Buffy and Spike said together.

To Be Continued


	4. Confrontation

Return to Me chapter 4 (net version)

Title; Return to Me

Author; Ariadne

Email; ferret@in.com.au

Rating; could change without notice, at the moment R

Disclaimer; All the Characters belong to Joss, and the talented ppl at Mutant Enemy, and Scream appears thanks to Wes

Craven… etc, etc I own no one (unfortunately) Oh and I forgot this with Chapter 2 but A HUGE thanx to Peter Cook of "Pook Australia" for letting me use his business in this fic.

Feedback; Love to hear from you

Distribution; Yep but please let me know so I can gloat about it!

****

Chapter 4; Confrontation 

Pieces of glass littered the floor and crunched under the newcomer's feet. Willow and Xander looked towards each other an expression of fear crossed their faces.

"Well this is just great!" Spike said. He couldn't see who had smashed their way in as he moved around Buffy trying to see. "It's probably someone just pissed off at not being invi… What the hell?" Spike looked from Willow and Xander to Willow and Xander, confusion clearly evident on his face, "Have you two been playing with a cloning machine or something? Spells maybe? Or just got in the way of that sodding Toth guy again? What's with the leather, not a normal look for you pair!"

"Hey! Willow get your hands off my man..." Anya started towards the leather clad couple, clearly angry that Willow and Xander were together.

"Whoa there, slow down a second Anya. I'm right here. That's NOT me, and I'm kinda thinking leather Willow might not want to hand me… um Him over that easily." Xander held her back, turning her to face him. "We'll just let Buffy and Fang-boy handle this for a second."

"Bored now, why aren't they screaming or something?" Willow looked towards her leather clad partner "Even Puppy look's different."

"Don't know Will, but we might have some fun in a second" Xander looked up at the surprised group letting his game face show he looked around the room, as expected everyone moved back fear showing on a lot of faces.

Spike moved towards the front of the crowd, Buffy slipped quietly past the tables to the Scoobies. Angel and Gunn watched the events unfolding and started moving towards the others. Vamp Willow looked at everyone, carefully surveying them all. Closely watching Spike, she could sense that he was also a vampire, but she didn't understand why he was here with all these humans.

"I'm hungry," she said in an innocent tone, moving towards Oz "You'll do, should make me feel all warm and fuzzy"

"Keep away from him" Buffy said in a low tone, standing apart from the others "I thought we told you not to return here? So why are you and your little friend here?"

"Who the hell are you?" asked Vamp Xander "Look like you might be fun to play with for a while!"

"She's the slayer, and she's gunna kick your weak, sorry ass out of here" Dawn said defiantly

"Shut up, Dawn" Buffy looked angrily at her sister. 

"Yes, Buffy is quite right. We don't want to provoke them Dawn. We just need to wait while Willow, our Willow that is, works on a spell with Tara to send them back where they belong." Giles looked thoughtful "Who knows what would happen if we tampered with the natural continuation of time in their dimension, it could upset the whole universe."

"Slayer huh? Since when did a slayer live to be so old?" asked Vamp Xander, trying to provoke Buffy, hoping she would let her gaze drop for just a second. "And since when did other vampires start hanging around the slayer." He looked directly at Spike and Angel.

Willow and Tara started whispering a spell, hoping the spell would be strong enough to send the vampires back to their own dimension, when all of a sudden Vamp Willow was upon them, quickly flinging them apart. Tara was thrown across the room landing near Pike who was busy with a bag trying to get a zip undone. 

"I don't care what that old dude says, I'm going to be prepared." He said as he finally got the zip undone and pulled a couple of stakes from the bag, he handed one to Tara saying, "Here you might find this helpful."

"Tha…thanks." She said as she got up shakily "But I think Giles is right, we should try to return them to where they belong."

"Yeah, well this is just in case."

*************************************************************************************************************************************

Spike was trying to watch Buffy and keep a watchful eye on the two vampires at the same time. It was proving to be difficult now that they had split up. Finally he decided to try and distract the vampires by talking to them. He knew that if Willow could get the spell finished that they would be sent packing back to their own dimension. 'Typical' he thought, just as he seemed to be getting through to Buffy that she wasn't just a passing attraction, but the love of his existence, something happens and takes the moment away from them. He looked across the room to her. She looked beautiful, standing there ready to fight if she had to. 

"Oi, you two are invading my hunting grounds." He said to the vampires, his game face coming out. "Why don't you sod off outta here!"

"That's enough from you peroxide boy." Vamp Xander said "This is our home, we stepped out for a second to find someone to eat and come back to find this!" he said sweeping his arm across the crowd of people in a confused voice.

"Yes," vamp Willow backed him up "Where's the Master, and how did Puppy get loose? This is all very confusing"

"I don't give a damn how confused you are, get sodding out!" Spike yelled at them, starting to loose his temper, "Hang on," he said, starting to look confused, "Did you say the Master? Buffy killed him years ago, I mean I wasn't around to see it or anything but stuff like that gets around you know."

"Well he was here when we left, and he…" Vamp Willow pointed to Angel, "was in his cell, chained up!" She glared angrily at Angel, like she was scolding a naughty child. "Anyway who are you?" she looked back to Spike, a seductive smile playing across her lips.

Buffy had caught on to what Spike was doing and had moved around the edge of the group ready to make her move. If Spike could just keep them talking for a bit longer it would be perfect. She heard Spike reply to their question with a smart-ass remark. Suddenly she knew they were looking straight at her. She looked up, a defiant expression on her face and said, "Exactly what part of _Sod off_ don't you understand?" she glanced at Spike to see him smirking to himself over her use of his favourite expression.

"So you're the famous Buffy?" Vamp Xander said, looking her up and down. "Don't look like much of a slayer to me, I could take you out just like that." He said with a snap of his fingers.

"Like to see you try," Dawn said defiantly

"Shut up Dawn" Buffy, Angel, and the other Scoobies said together 

"I need them to be together to do the spell." Willow whispered to Giles "they need to stand inside a circle so I can send them back." Her voice was urgent

"Do you think they are going to do as we ask Will?" Xander said in a sarcastic tone "I don't think so, they are not exactly Mr and Mrs Controllable Vampire, now are they?"

"I didn't mean that if we asked them they would do it. I meant if we could lure them inside a circle I could do the spell and poof! They would be gone." She replied a little hurt by his sarcasm. "Anyway I don't hear you coming up with any helpful suggestions."

All of a sudden Vamp Xander took a swing at Buffy. She ducked swiftly out of the way and retaliated with a solid punch in the stomach, sending him flying backwards across the room, she leapt after him ready to follow up with her attack as Vamp Willow rushed to defend her partner. All of a sudden everyone tried to get away. Spike and Angel moved in to help Buffy as she fought off the two vampires.

Realising that they were outnumbered, Vamp Willow shouted to Xander to get out of the place and they both bolted out through the window they came in. Buffy started to follow when Giles blocked her

"Not yet Buffy," he said "Willow and Tara don't have everything they need to send them back to their own dimension right now.

"But, Giles." She looked her watcher. "I can't let them get away, who knows what they might do."

TBC 


End file.
